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Health Care: Reid Promises Bill With or Without Republicans, Harkin Talks to AlterNet, Schumer Lays an Egg
Posted by Adele Stan, AlterNet on November 19, 2009 at 5:21 PM.

Standing before an audience of union members, former Obama campaign volunteers and media in a cramped room in the Capitol Visitors Center, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke in historical terms of the health-care bill he melded out of the bills crafted by two Senate committees. Reading from a letter to Congress written by President Harry Truman 64 years ago to the day, Reid called upon the Senate to get behind his Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"He knew that the health of the American people is linked to the health of the American economy," Reid said of Truman. He then noted that a person who was one year old at the time Truman penned the letter would, this very day, become eligible for Medicare. (C-SPAN has video here.)

Reid stood surrounded by Democratic senators from the Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, as well as Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., his assistant majority leader. In their triumphant mood, each of the Democrats seemed to assume their individual personae quite fully.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., invoked the spirit of the late Ted Kennedy, whose reins of the HELP Committee Dodd took while crafting the bill during the last days of Kennedy's illness. The affably pugilistic Durbin played true to form, noting that the largest criticism he heard from the Republican side was that the bill was 2,000 pages long.

"I might remind the Republican side of the aisle that when it comes to the size of legislation, it was that bank-bailout bill that the last president proposed that was only three pages long," Durbin said. "Now, there's a work of wisdom."

Durbin also projected a raft of legal challenges from insurance companies after the bill is passed. "[Y]ou better make sure you have a lot of pages there to cover the law suits they're going to file to try to stop us," he said.

Chuck Schumer of New York, standing in for Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (who was in his home state of Montana tending to his sick mother), exceeded expectations of persona-fulfillment with a very bad joke about breakfast foods. Referring to "that impresario, that great chef, Harry Reid," Schumer said, "I have this tie on here: it has eggs and cheese and pork. So, it's a great omelet. Harry made a great omelet. You sometimes have to break a few eggs to make a great omelet, but he did...We have great cheese from the Finance Committee and great pork from the HELP Committee. I couldn't say we had great pork from the Finance Committee or I'd be in trouble."

At one point during Schumer's McMuffin speech, Dodd leaned over to whisper in Harry Reid's ear. Would that we could know what he said.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

How to Achieve Real, Populist Reform
Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo on November 19, 2009 at 5:00 PM.

This is a must read profile of Dr Elizabeth Warren, a genuine great American populist reformer (who happens to teach at Harvard -- I know, shocking.)

In Elizabeth Warren’s world, credit card contracts would be so simple a teenager could read and understand them in four minutes. Loans would be as easy to compare as toasters, and online credit scores would be free.

“We need a new model: If you can’t explain it, you can’t sell it,” said Warren, 60, a Harvard University law professor who is head of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, in an interview.

The 1966 high school debate champion of Oklahoma may get what she wants. The House of Representatives will vote in December on her idea. She suggested a Financial Product Safety Commission in a 2007 article in the magazine Democracy. President Barack Obama proposed it to Congress in June as the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

I urge you to read the whole thing. Her mind is so lively and so finely tuned to the real economic environment that I wish I could lock every Democrat in Washington in a room with her for as long as it takes to get them to hear what she is saying and learn how to think along these lines. She's one of the very few who articulates the kind of reform populism that makes sense to average citizens and which might keep the know-nothing Palinite freakshow from looking good to increasingly desperate, working people in this country.

Update: Here's some neat post partisan populism: The Ron Paul, Alan Grayson bill to audit the fed just passed through the committee. Baby steps, folks.

The Best Paragraph Written About Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue"
Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet on November 19, 2009 at 4:48 PM.

I'm giving the nod to va, at Whiskey Fire:

The most unbelievable thing about Going Rogue, by the author-function "Sarah Palin," is that it's supposed to be self-serving. The problem a self-serving narrative about Sarah Palin confronts is that it's about Sarah Palin, whose entire life, it appears, consists of worse and worse attempts to create self-serving narratives explaining away bigger and bigger fuck-ups. Going Rogue's burden is that it must claim to be the definitive, encyclopedic explanation, the final excuse, for a long history of failure begat by failure; it's an epic of failure, if you will, and if the goal here is some kind of ultimate vindication, well, it is monumentally unsuccessful. Going Rogue is, at bottom, the story of every one of Sarah Palin's projects ending in grotesque catastrophe; it is only self-serving in the sense that these catastrophes either prove benign or turn out to be some other schlub's fault. If everything I knew about Sarah Palin came from this book (and basically it does), I would say her life has been like a play in which a deus-ex-machina descends at the end of every act to bestow peace and harmony, except the deus forgot to put on pants and everyone's just standing around going "uhhhh..." and then the lights go out and the scene changes.

Paragraphs 2 through 5 offer some fine and fun writing as well, so I urge you to read the whole thing.

Why Fiscal Conservatives Should Love the Senate Health Care Bill
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on November 19, 2009 at 3:33 PM.

BENDING THE PROVERBIAL CURVE.... For some conservatives, including some center-right Democrats, the very point of tackling health care reform is to get health care costs under control. Ezra Klein has a great item today, explaining how the Senate reform bill does just that.

If this piece of the bill was passed on its own, it would be the most important cost control bill ever considered by the United States Congress. But you could never have passed it on its own. You needed the coverage to make the grand bargain work. Republicans like to call this bill a trillion-dollar experiment to expand the health-care system, and in some ways, it is. But it's also a multitrillion-dollar experiment to cut costs in the health-care system, and it deserves credit for that, and support from fiscal conservatives. It's easy to talk about cutting costs, but this is the chance for people to actually do it.

The "grand bargain" is an important concept that often goes overlooked in the debate. For the left, which has been clamoring for health care reform for several generations now, the point of fixing the system is the moral outrage of allowing tens of millions of Americans to go without coverage. The uninsured are one serious illness away from bankruptcy, or one layoff away from family peril, and progressives have long demanded a remedy.

For the right, the principal reason to even entertain the possibility of reform is fiscal -- conservatives are worried about spiraling costs and massive deficits.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Economy Is Going to Get Much Worse
Posted by Steven D., Booman Tribune on November 19, 2009 at 2:02 PM.

I think the economy is pretty darn awful, but with record profits on Wall Street and all the happy talk about a recovery from the recession (albeit a jobless recovery) it's confusing for many people as to what our economic future really holds. Well, here's relevant statistic that sums it up nicely, one that shows the so-called recovery is mostly a smoke and mirrors vaudeville magician's routine by the same people who either got us into this fine mess in the first place, or enabled the ones who did. Take a peek at this excerpt from Inner Workings David Goldman's blog at Asia Times:

This morning’s news that housing starts “unexpectedly” dropped by 11 percent month on month is consistent with my grim view of the American economy. The crystal-meth monetary policy at the Fed makes everyone feel better, until they don’t. The nonstop rise in the price of dollar hedges tells us that it can’t last forever. Large balance sheets attached to the Fed’s money pump can show profits, and the price of spread assets (as PIMCO’s Bill Gross keeps emphasizing) is stupid rich. But at the capillary level, through, the economy is dying and gangrene is setting in.

Here’s year on year growth in commercial and industrial loans from weekly reporting banks in the US:

[Attached chart shows 20% decline in commercial and industrial loans in the 12 months]

A TWENTY PERCENT decline in commercial and industrial loans? That's not a recovery, it's a fricking catastrophic collapse in the fundamental underpinnings of our economy. It's Wall Street sucking Main Street and Government dry, grabbing all the cash while they can. Not surprisingly they are using that cash pump from the Federal Reserve to drive up commodities prices. What does that tell you? It tells me things are about to get much, much worse, and no one in Washington has a clue what to do. It's, and let's be honest, the worst economic performance since the Great Depression. Jobs that created the foundation of our economic growth in the 20th Century have flat disappeared, as Nouriel Roubini (you know, the economist whose predictions were right all along while the Friedman disciples like Alan Greenspan fiddled as the US economy burned to the ground) makes clear.

While America's official unemployment rate is already 10.2 per cent, the figure jumps to a whopping 17.5 per cent when discouraged workers and partially employed workers are included. And, while data from firms suggest that job losses in the past three months were about 600,000, household surveys, which include self-employed workers and small entrepreneurs, suggest a number above two million.

Moreover, the total effect on labour income – the product of jobs times hours worked times average hourly wages – has been more severe than that implied by the job losses alone, because many firms are cutting their workers' hours, placing them on furlough or lowering their wages as a way to share the pain.

Many of the lost jobs – in construction, finance, and outsourced manufacturing and services – are gone forever, and recent studies suggest that a quarter of U.S. jobs can be fully outsourced over time to other countries. Thus, a growing proportion of the work force – often below the radar screen of official statistics – is losing hope of finding gainful employment, while the unemployment rate (especially for poor, unskilled workers) will remain high for a much longer period of time than in previous recessions. [...]

[T]he credit crunch for non-investment-grade firms and smaller firms, which rely mostly on access to bank loans rather than capital markets, is still severe. Or consider bankruptcies and defaults by households and firms. Larger firms – even those with large debt problems – can refinance their excessive liabilities in or out of court, but an unprecedented number of small businesses are going bankrupt. The same holds for households, with millions of weaker and poorer borrowers defaulting on mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, student loans and other consumer credit.

Consider also what is happening to private consumption and retail sales. Recent monthly figures suggest a rise in retail sales. But, because the official statistics capture mostly sales by larger retailers and exclude the fall by hundreds of thousands of smaller stores and businesses that have failed, consumption looks better than it really is. [...]

Moreover, income and wealth inequality is rising again. Poorer households are at greater risk of unemployment, falling wages or reductions in hours worked, all leading to lower labour income, whereas on Wall Street, outrageous bonuses have returned with a vengeance. With the stock market rising and home prices still falling, the wealthy are becoming richer, while the middle class and the poor – whose main wealth is a house rather than equities – are becoming poorer and being saddled with an unsustainable debt burden.

So, while the United States may technically be close to the end of a severe recession, most of America is facing a near-depression. Little wonder, then, that few Americans believe that what walks like a duck and quacks like a duck is actually the phoenix of recovery.

The Tea Baggers and their talk of a tax revolt and railing against the mythical socialist takeover of America by the Obama administration isn't the problem.

The problem is that we've been scammed by Wall Street financial firms (the megalithic survivors) into juicing their balance sheets while getting less than zero in return for our billions of dollars of bailout expenditures by the Fed and Congress and trillions more for Federal guarantees of Wall Street's toxic junk financial derivatives.

In short, our investment of tax dollars in an essentially opaque, unregulated, subsidized and protected financial sector is proving to be a very, very bad bet for the future of any real economic recovery for the vast majority of Americans who don't work for Goldman Sachs and their ilk. This isn't a rational free market by anyone's definition. It's a con game, one that Obama's economic team has been more than willing to ignore in the interest of helping their friends, even if that means unacceptably high unemployment and lower investment in the real drivers of our economy -- small businesses, workers and manufacturing.

And unless we see a sea change in the economic strategies being pursued by the Obama administration, any talk of a fundamental political realignment in which Democrats benefit from a generational shift in political power is as much a pipe dream as Karl Rove's plan for a one party Republican state. Indeed, if Democrats in the Executive Branch and in Congress continue to ignore the fundamental changes in economic policy necessary to reverse our present course, the likelihood of something far sinister, a fascist or neo-fascist movement or a coup by a right wing military junta is not out of the question. Because when democratic civil governments becomes unable or unwilling to address fundamental issues of economic security they can lose their legitimacy literally overnight.

Just look at the history of the Weimar Republic, or Italy after WWI, if you want an object lesson in democratic governments that failed because their political leaders, operating within a weak, corrupted and gridlocked systems, were more concerned about their political careers and futures than addressing the critical economic issues that had spread misery and despair among millions of their constituents.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Rep. Virginia Foxx Credits GOP for Civil Rights Legislation
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on November 19, 2009 at 1:00 PM.

FOXX'S NOTION OF 'REVISIONIST HISTORY'.... On the House floor today, Rep. Virginia Foxx, a right-wing Republican from North Carolina, boasted of her party's alleged progressive history on civil rights.

"Just as we were the people who passed the civil rights bills back in the '60s without very much help from our colleagues across the aisle," said Fox. "They love to engage in revisionist history."

Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), stunned, tried to set Foxx straight, pointing to the role of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations of the 1960s. "John Lewis, a member of this House, was beaten on the Edmund Pettus bridge to get that civil rights legislation passed," Cardoza reminded Foxx. "Tell John Lewis that he wasn't part of getting that legislation passed."

Matt Corley added, "To support the claim that Republicans were actually the architects of civil rights, conservatives often point out that a 'higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats supported the civil-rights bill.' But this ignores the 'distinct split between Northern and Southern politicians' on the issue."

This comes up from time to time, and since some confused people like Virginia Foxx have trouble remembering the details, it's worth the occasional refresher.

The Democratic Party, in the first half of the 20th century, was home to competing constituencies -- southern whites with abhorrent views on race, and white progressives and African Americans in the north, who sought to advance the cause of civil rights. The party struggled, ultimately siding with an inclusive, liberal agenda.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Fox Issues On-Air Apology for Misleading Footage of Palin Crowds
Posted by Faiz Shakir, Think Progress on November 19, 2009 at 12:00 PM.

Following ThinkProgress’ report yesterday that Fox News had recycled old file footage of Sarah Palin rallies to assert that she is currently getting huge turnouts on her book tour, the network issued an on-air apology this afternoon. Fox’s Happening Now co-host Jane Skinner said it was mistake, but didn’t explain how it happened:

In the tease before the segment — the tease to commercial — we told you how those people were already lining up to meet Palin. The problem is, we didn’t actually show you the video we were referencing. Instead, we mistakenly aired what’s called file tape of Sarah Palin. We didn’t mean to mislead anybody in that tease. It was a mistake. And for that, we apologize.

Watch it:

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

We Pay Sen. McCaskill $174,000 a Year for This Kind of Whining?
Posted by Natasha Chart, Open Left on November 19, 2009 at 11:00 AM.

Sen. McCaskill explains why the Senate can't be bothered to do anything about the climate bill:

Some senators are skeptical lawmakers will be ready to tackle another huge issue after finishing health care. "After you do one really, really big, really, really hard thing that makes everybody mad, I don't think anybody's excited about doing another really, really big thing that's really, really hard that makes everybody mad," Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said. "Climate fits that category."

This is a grownup Senator talking?

Well, dagnabbit, I wish I'd thought of that when discussing future goals with ex-managers during performance reviews. 'No, no, I don't need to move on to any next project, I already did one really, really hard thing this year. And hold my calls, would you? They interrupt my Mahjong Titans time.'

But look, I've seen some of the Senate's other really, really hard work this year, and it sucked. Also, it was clearly written mostly by lobbyists anyway. Which is not only sleazier than having your Mom do your homework, it's lazier. It means these Senators didn't so much as have to supervise the staff manager that told the policy writers to stop screwing around and get that subparagraph on their desk, ASAP. That's like having your Mom's secretary do your homework.

This is some Subgenius level slacking going on up there in the Senate. If these Senators were on the government dime, why, someone might get angry about this. If we were paying for ... oh, right.

In closing, I can only sputter at this point. So I'm turning you over to the immortal inspirational speaking of George W. Bush. Here, in a 2004 debate with John Kerry, our former president laid out a nobler vision of a public service work ethic that, sadly, may deeply disturb Sen. Claire McCaskill:

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Hoffman Manages to Blame ACORN for His Loss
Posted by BarbinMD, Daily Kos on November 19, 2009 at 10:02 AM.

Proving once and for all that he really was the only true Republican in the race, the loser in the election to represent New York's 23rd District is now sobbing that ACORN cost him the election. And apparently they pelted the teabagger candidate with nuts until he was "forced to concede."

With his prospect of winning the 23rd Congressional District race now almost zero, Conservative Party candidate Douglas L. Hoffman suggested Wednesday in a letter that “ACORN, the unions and the Democratic Party” “tampered” with results to deny him victory.

Mr. Hoffman provided no evidence to support his claims, but asked fellow conservatives to send donations his way to “ensure every vote is counted.”

Jerry O. Eaton, Jefferson County Republican elections commissioner, called Mr. Hoffman's assertion “absolutely false.”

Outraged teabaggers can go to Hoffman's website and see no evidence surface -- although the URL is pretty convincing.

Give it up, Mr. Hoffman. Swallow your loss and move on.

GOP Lawmakers Accuse Holder of Being a Terrorist Sympathizer
Posted by Steve Benen on November 19, 2009 at 9:00 AM.

ENOUGH TO MAKE AN ATTORNEY GENERAL LAUGH.... Attorney General Eric Holder talked to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, primarily about the decision to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators in federal court. It didn't go especially well -- Republicans on the panel didn't seem persuaded -- but Dahlia Lithwick highlighted the most troubling aspect of the Q&A.

Specifically, some GOP senators are concerned that some Justice Department officials, including the attorney general himself, may actually be terrorist sympathizers.

[Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) of Iowa] demanded that Holder explain the presence in the solicitor general's office of Neal Katyal, who represented Osama Bin Laden's driver at the Supreme Court. Grassley used a smear from the New York Post (penned by the writer who ridiculously claimed Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh believed "Sharia law could apply to disputes in US courts") to demand that Holder account for Jennifer Daskal as counsel in its National Security Division, who allegedly wants terrorists to have more time to write poetry. Grassley demanded that Holder produce a list of DoJ appointees who have ever acted as lawyers for terror detainees.

 

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

No Stupak Language in Senate Bill; Boxer "Couldn't Be Happier," Hatch Promises "Holy War"
Posted by Adele Stan, AlterNet on November 19, 2009 at 6:46 AM.

At Majority Leader Harry Reid's announcement yesterday about the health-care bill he seeks to introduce on the Senate floor, the elephant in the room was women's reproductive rights, which were not addressed from the podium.

But ever since the House passed its health-care bill with the egregious Stupak amendment attached -- which bars virtually all abortion coverage from being offered in the exchanges through which most individual policies will be purchased -- battles over reproductive rights have taken center stage as the Senate hammered out its version of the legislation, titled the the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. 

The Washington Post reports that the bill does not go the Stupak route, and instead establishes a "firewall" between federally-funded subsidies for insurance premiums and private funds that could be used to pay for plans that contain abortion coverage. ""I couldn't be happier," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told the Post. "For those who want to keep abortion out of this bill, Senator Reid did it the right way." Boxer is regarded as the Senate's foremost pro-choice advocate.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

News Flash: Christians Still Not Victimized by Hate Crimes Legislation
Posted by Steven D., Booman Tribune on November 19, 2009 at 6:38 AM.

There is a group which has seen a 25% rise in hate crimes against them in Florida, 17% which involve violent physical assaults. This might surprise some of my counterparts on the Right, but the group which is incurring these vicious attacks is not the one they would suspect.

That's right, violent hate crimes against white Christians are not increasing despite the election of that Kenyan Born Muslim loving Barack Husein Obama. I know it's hard to believe considering all the angst expressed on right wing talk shows about how Christians are under attack and are being victimized and terrorized by Obama, Atheists, Secularists, Democrats and Gays, but its true, nonetheless.

Let me ask all those concerned Republicans and Conservative Christians who are so afraid/whiny/have their undies in a twist over their alleged claim that that the recent hate crimes legislation protecting gays was directed against them (despite the fact that all people of religious faith have been a protected class under hate crime legislation since the first such laws were written years ago.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Oklahoma Lawmaker Considering Bill To Opt Out Of Hate Crimes Act
Posted by Alex Seitz-Wald, Think Progress on November 19, 2009 at 3:12 AM.

A common right-wing objection to federal health care legislation is that it's unconstitutional. So-called "tenthers" argue that the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution never explicitly gives the federal government the right to regulate health care, leaving that power exclusively in the hands of the states. To that end, officials in various states have raised the possibility of passing legislation to exempt their residents from federal health care reform if it passes.

Oklahoma state Sen. Steve Russell (R) is proposing to use the same argument and tactic to try to exempt his state from the recently-passed Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act — which extends hate crimes protections to gays and lesbians — because he claims it infringes on freedom of speech:

Russell said because the government has decided to intervene on issues of morality, he is worried that religious leaders who speak out against any lifestyle could be imprisoned for their speech.

"The law is very vague to begin with," Russell said. "Sexual orientation is a very vague word that could be extended to extremes like necrophilia." [...]

Russell said Oklahoma can opt out of the law on the basis of the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"The bill gives the federal government power that was not given to them in the Constitution," Russell said. "I am aware of the supremacy of the federal government over state governments, but the federal requirements are vague enough for us to make actions. We just have to be very careful on how we proceed."

Hate crime protections have been on the books since 1969, but Russell seems to object to only those which protect gays and lesbians. Moreover, Russell and the other tenthers have flimsly legal basis for their claims. The Constitution gives Congress broad power to "provide for the common defense and general welfare," but as Ian Millhiser noted, tenthers "insist that these words don't actually mean what they say." The right-wing fringe believes landmark federal programs such as Medicare, Social Security, the federal highway system, and rules regulating airplane safety are unconstitutional.

Other right wingers have echoed Russell's concern about the new hate crimes bill: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) said on the House floor that the measure would lead to Nazism and the legalization of pedophilia and necrophilia. But as Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) said, "Nothing in this legislation diminishes an American's freedom of religion, freedom of speech or press or the freedom to assemble," because the law "targets acts, not speech." These acts need to be targeted. In 2007 — the most recent year for which data is available — 16.6 percent of all hate crimes reported reported to the FBI "resulted from sexual-orientation bias."

Newsweek Taps Bush Aide For Obama Reporting
Posted by Ari Melber, The Nation on November 19, 2009 at 1:00 AM.

See if you can follow this logic.

A recent article in Newsweek states that Democrats could have won a "very significant number of Republican votes in Congress" for the stimulus -- had there only been a "meaningful tax-cut component." Political journalism is often imaginative, but this verges on delusion. After all, Obama labored to add about $280 billion in tax cuts to the stimulus -- over objections from many Democrats -- and still netted zero Republican votes in the House. Then, the piece asserts that Obama has no "coattails," based on 2009 elections, and reports "early signs of Obama fatigue are emerging." (Again, another observer might note that Democrats have won all 5 special congressional elections this year.) The article also predicts that gubernatorial losses in Virginia and New Jersey "will" make some Democrats "very nervous" about health care reform, which is a "political risk" for the party.

"We appear to be witnessing the beginnings of a significant Republican revival," continues the piece, bringing home its quirky counter-narrative. Lucky for struggling Democrats, however, this Newsweek item closes with some free political advice. "Liberals in Washington would do well to let go of the Republican breakdown narrative," notes the final sentence, "and pull back to the center--or suffer the consequences."

It's the kind of article that might leave you wondering if the author simply works for the G.O.P.

Newsweek's byline states that the writer, Yuval Levin, is "editor of National Affairs and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center." It all sounds quite journalistic and non-partisan. But Levin is also a former aide to President George W. Bush. (He served on the White House domestic policy staff as recently as 2006). If anything, this government experience makes Levin's political analysis more interesting. Why keep it from readers?

As it happens, Levin's first piece for Newsweek, back in March, was prominently billed as Obama analysis from "a Bush veteran." So I put the question to Newsweek, and spokesperson Katherine Barna shares their rationale:

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Is Obama Screwing the Netroots?
Posted by bmaz, Firedoglake on November 19, 2008 at 4:02 PM.

When I was first sworn into the bar, I had the good fortune of being mentored by an experienced and wise senior partner. One of the first things that he taught me in dealing with other parties was to be aware of the long arm-short arm syndrome. This is where a person has a long arm for taking, and a short arm for giving.

When it comes to the netroots, Barack Obama has the long arm-short arm syndrome. He has taken much from us in terms of support, voice, momentum, money, footwork and energy. Obama has given little, if anything, in return to the netroots. Unless you count disdain and scorn. And pokes in the eye with a blunt stick.

Let's go through a bill of particulars, starting with oh, say, today:

(Bonus: Even Pat Buchanan is feeling sorry for the progressive netroots. Catch the video after the flip.)

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Bill O'Reilly Defeated: Surrenders to the 'War on Christmas'
Posted by Satyam Khanna, Think Progress on November 19, 2008 at 2:51 PM.

For years, Bill O’Reilly has been ranting about an alleged "War on Christmas," claiming liberals are unjustly replacing "Christmas" festivities with "Holiday" festivities. News Hounds notes that O’Reilly isn't practicing what he preaches, as he is showing off a "holiday reading list" on his website:

Daschle as HHS Secretary: A Look at the Pros and Cons
Posted by Melissa McEwan, Shakesville on November 19, 2008 at 1:42 PM.

Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle has been tapped by Obama to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and, according to Roll Call, has accepted the position. Think Progress reports that he will also

take on the position of "health care czar" in the Obama White House. CNN's Ed Henry is also reporting he negotiated the "health care czar" position in order to be "the point person on all White House health-related issues."

I'm okay with this selection -- and that's exactly as noncommittal a reaction as it sounds.

On the plus side, Daschle has (literally) written the book on the healthcare crisis. He knows the ins and outs of Congress and how to get shit done; as Drum says, he "is plainly dedicated to healthcare reform, he understands the legislative realities as well as anyone." Steve notes: "The Daschle announcement reinforces the notion that an Obama administration is going to take the push for healthcare reform very seriously" and "the Daschle news makes me even more encouraged about the prospect of a healthcare package actually passing.

Emanuel is insisting that an incremental approach won't do; Baucus and Kennedy are laying the groundwork on the Hill; and Daschle has been preparing for this fight for quite awhile."

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Good News and Bad News About Bush's Last-Minute War on Choice
Posted by Cara, Feministe on November 19, 2008 at 12:37 PM.

This NY Times article, though unfortunately referring to it as a measure that “protects health providers,” gives us some important updates on Bush’s proposed anti-choice DHHS rule.

Bad News: Bush still looks determined to instate the rule.

Good News: Members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, including those appointed by Bush, are voicing protest against the rule, saying it is unnecessary and would “overturn 40 years of civil rights law prohibiting job discrimination based on religion.”  In addition, it’s being vocally opposed by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, a bunch of senators and congressional representatives, and the attorney generals of 13 states.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Fat-Cat Automakers Beg for Taxpayer Money While Flying in Private Jets
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on November 19, 2008 at 11:33 AM.

Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford, understands the importance of symbolic gestures and public relations. Yesterday, for example, when he arrived on Capitol Hill, hat in hand, hoping to convince lawmakers to help bail out American auto manufacturers, he arrived in a new Ford Fusion Hybrid. Ford's media team, of course, made sure reporters knew about this.

The goal wasn't necessarily to impress members of Congress, who wouldn't see Mulally's arrival; it was for our benefit. Showing up in a hybrid was supposed to convey to all of us that Ford is thinking ahead and taking innovation seriously.

If only Ford's p.r. team had thought about the other leg of the trip. How one gets to the Hill from the hotel isn't quite as interesting as how one gets from home to D.C.:

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Why Can't Corporate Media Admit the Real Reason Republicans Lost?
Posted by Steve M., No More Mister Nice Blog on November 19, 2008 at 10:31 AM.

So I'm over at Chris Cillizza's Washington Post blog, and I'm reading the post that was just quoted in Firedoglake -- you know, the one that's sending every lefty's blood pressure into the danger zone -- but I find myself distracted not by the paragraph quoted at FDL, but by what Cillizza says two paragraphs later (emphasis mine):

...Asked what it would mean if Lieberman kept his chairmanship, one Senate Democratic aide said bluntly: "The left has been foiled again. They can rant and rage but they still do not put the fear into folks to actually change their votes. Their influence would be in question."

That's one way to look at it. The other is that the left would be up in arms and far less willing to go along and get along with President-elect Barack Obama's agenda -- particularly if it doesn't contain the appropriate progressive tilt.

These are the problems of power, the same problems that Republican experienced following the 2000 election. The GOP's inability to make peace between its warring ideological factions led to its decline in 2006 and fall in 2008. Can Democrats avoid the same fate?

Is that really why insider journos think the GOP had trouble at the polls in the last two elections? Because the GOP and the right weren't in lockstep enough?

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Obama Picks Tom Daschle for Health and Human Services Secretary
Posted by Staff, Huffington Post on November 19, 2008 at 9:28 AM.

Sarah Palin Faces New Ethics Complaint
Posted by Ryan Powers, Think Progress on November 19, 2008 at 9:02 AM.

A resident of Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) hometown of Wasilla filed a new ethics complaint against the governor, arguing that her recent media blitz broke state ethics rules because portions of the interviews took place in the governor’s office. The Anchorage Daily News reports:

Jane Henning, a North Slope worker from Wasilla, said he filed the complaint with the attorney general. He says Palin is promoting her future political career on state property, pointing in particular to the governor’s Nov. 10 interview with Fox News Channel host Greta Van Susteren. […]

“The governor is using her official position and office in an attempt to repair her damaged political image on the national scene,” Henning wrote.

The state executive branch ethics rules say officials can’t use state resources to help or hurt a political candidate. Or a potential candidate.

Are There Any Other Qualified People In America Other Than Clintonites?
Posted by David Sirota, Open Left on November 19, 2008 at 4:12 AM.

I ask this question without making a value judgment - are there any other qualified people in America other than permanent Washington, D.C. dwellers who were part of the Clinton administration?

I ask this based on the Obama appointments - my back-of-the-envelope estimate is that they are 90 percent Clinton administration officials.

Now, I don't think this means that the Obama administration will automatically be Bill Clinton's third term, with all the corresponding incrementalism and triangulation.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Mark Begich, Not Sarah Palin, Is the Future of Alaska
Posted by Booman, Booman Tribune on November 19, 2008 at 4:10 AM.

It's hard to exaggerate how much Sarah Palin's star is going to unjustly dim Mark Begich's star now that he has been elected the new senator from Alaska. But it won't last. Mark Begich is an unusual Democrat. He loves to call in to right-wing (or any kind of) talk radio shows. He isn't at all shy about using media to push his political agenda and his career. He's the kind of politician you should anticipate seeing on Hardball and other cable news programs. I don't say this as a criticism, but the guy likes to make his presence known. At the same time, he's all about substance and ideas. Of all the aspiring politicians I've sat down with, Begich has been the most impressive. I wanted Merkely and Franken to win because they were progressive. I wanted Begich to win because he's substantive.

I don't know a whole lot about Alaska politics, although I've learned more than I wanted to during this campaign season. What I do know is that Begich's election over Ted Stevens represents a huge change in the dynamics of the state's politics. Begich just won a six-year term, and that's an eternity in politics. As we sit around thinking about how it will be four years before Joe Lieberman is up for reelection, we should also think about how it will be six years before our freshmen senators will face the voters. That is a lot of time to establish yourself.

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Israel Bulldozes Gaza Lands, Reinstates Blockade
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on November 19, 2008 at 4:09 AM.

On Monday, Israel allowed the UN to bring 33 trucks of food and medicine into Gaza, momentarily lifting the complete blockade which has been in force since November 6. With 750,000 people reliant on that aid, this was clearly a drop in the bucket.

On Tuesday, Israel reinstated the full blockade leaving the people of Gaza without essential humanitarian aid.

And then they upped the ante, as Israeli:

tanks, backed by a bulldozer and military jeep, rumbled about a quarter-mile deep into the tiny seaside strip…

Residents said they levelled lands along the border east of the city of Rafah. It was the first ground action in a week… The Israeli military described the activity as "a routine operation to uncover explosive devices near the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip." (h/t Cernig)

When the U.N. human rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay called on Israel to "immediately to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip," saying:

"By function of this blockade, 1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months ...This is in direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law. It must end now."

Israel responded – ignoring their own first breach of the cease fire – that they were shocked “to read the High Commissioner’s shortsighted press release.”

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Obama Sends a Strong, Clear Message on Global Warming
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on November 19, 2008 at 4:06 AM.

A two-day gathering called the Bi-Partisan Governors Global Climate Summit convened this morning in Los Angeles, and Barack Obama made an unexpected video presentation, vowing a "new chapter in American leadership on climate change."

If you can't watch clips online, the Washington Post has a full transcript of the text, but I'd note that Obama offered unambiguous remarks on the issue, criticizing the federal government's recent failures, touting a federal cap and trade system, promising to "invest $15 billion each year to catalyze private sector efforts to build a clean energy future," and citing specific annual targets on emission reductions.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Bill O'Reilly Attacks the Entire City of San Francisco
Posted by Nicholas Graham, Huffington Post on November 19, 2008 at 4:00 AM.

Bill O'Reilly is scared. As a daring crusader on the side of "traditional America" in the war against "secular progressives," O'Reilly fears that the "far left" will push President-elect Obama to embrace their values. As an example of the horrors that would befall us if this were to happen, O'Reilly offers up a surreal pseudo-documentary of San Francisco. O'Reilly sends producer Jesse Waters, whose sole journalistic value seems to be his utter lack of shame at chasing after and ambushing anyone O'Reilly points his finger at, to San Francisco because it represents 'far left government' at work.

Watching this video, one would think that ninety percent of San Francisco's population are either homeless, addicted to drugs, prostitutes, crazy, or some mix of all these. The video is an unbelievable smear on a great American city. The only thing worse than the video's message is the production value. After showing the video, O'Reilly interviews Waters for insight into how San Franciscans can live in such moral and physical squalor. Waters basically says the citizens of Frisco have accepted, and adjusted to, the fact their city is a hell hole. Actually, the city is so beyond the pale that O'Reilly once said he wouldn't mind if Al Qaida attacked the city. Watch and judge for yourself.

Click here to watch it and judge for yourself.

GRITtv With Laura Flanders: Obama’s Win, Was It Marketing Or a Movement?
Posted by Staff, AlterNet on November 19, 2008 at 1:17 AM.

Update: This segment of GRITtv has already aired. Please tune in next Wednesday here at AlterNet for another live segment at Noon (EST), 9am (PST). Check out GRITtv for more great programming.

Barack Obama raised a record amount of money in his campaign against John McCain. At the end of September he had amassed a total of $605 million from more than three million donors. And a lot of that money came from small donors who gave again and again or volunteered for the campaign. He built a small army of regular people who spread across the country and generated enthusiasm rarely seen in contemporary American politics.

It was groundbreaking and impressive, but how did Obama win -- was it marketing or a movement? Personality, policy or a perfect storm?

Today on GRITtv MATT TAIBBI, BENNETT ZIER, and BILL FLETCHER on how Obama won.

Fox News Host Endorses Tasering Defenseless Female Protesters
Posted by GottaLaff , Brave New Films on November 19, 2007 at 3:00 PM.

This post, written by GottaLaff, originally appeared on Cliff Schecter's Brave New Films Blog

Oh, those lazy, hazy, tase-y days of autumn:

A Fox News morning host has a novel idea to handle those pesky Code Pink protesters who disrupt political events and Congressional hearings: 50,000 volts of electricity.

Brian Kilmead shared his ever-so-evolved views on crowd control Monday morning in a Fox & Friends discussion of a Code Pink-disrupted Hillary Clinton speech. His answer to annoying anti-war types? Tasers or Billy clubs.

[Brian] Kilmead's Taser-lust came one day after a 20-year-old Maryland man died after being shocked by police.

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Larry Flynt Endorses Dennis Kucinich
Posted by Paddy , Brave New Films on November 19, 2007 at 2:00 PM.

This post, written by Paddy, originally appeared on Cliff Schecter's Brave New Films

(click for larger version)

"While porn mogul Larry Flynt says he's still about to blow the lid off a couple of more sex scandals involving Republicans, he's lining up behind his horse in the Democratic field," the Examiner reports.

"Flynt was one of the co-hosts of a fundraiser for liberal candidate Dennis Kucinich at the headquarters of his company, Hustler-LFP, in Los Angeles."

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Is Reason Magazine Afraid of Naomi Klein's Book?
Posted by Alexander Zaitchik, The eXile on November 19, 2007 at 1:00 PM.

This post, written by Alexander Zaitchik, originally appeared on The Exile

"So who's reviewing Naomi Klein's searing indictment of that bloodthirsty scoundrel Milton Friedman? I read a few pages in the store, and it appears he was little more than a bookwormy Jim Jones."

This comment was posted on Reason magazine's blog by a reader identified as "SxCx" on September 13, around the time Naomi Klein's new book, The Shock Doctrine, hit the shelves. I found the post earlier today, about five minutes after I finished the book. As soon as I closed it, I jumped on the computer and loaded reason.com. I couldn't wait to see how the world's best written and most combative libertarian publication responded to Klein's devastating critique of the idea that libertarian economics are synonymous with, or even compatible with, free societies. The book is 500+ pages, and there is a lot to respond to. Boiled down, The Shock Doctrine argues that the imposition of unpopular neoliberal economic reforms have always required "shocks"--coups, wars, terror campaigns, natural disasters--before they can be forced onto dazed and distracted publics. Rarely if ever, argues Klein, have radical free market policies--most closely associated with the career of Milton Friedman and his University of Chicago spawn--taken root in a democratic system in which the public was involved in, or even fully aware of, what was happening. Thus the grand neoliberal experiments have always taken place in places like Pinochet's Chile. Klein gives us lots of well-sourced case studies.

Whether you agree with her or not, Klein's book is a serious one, a monster shot across the bow of staunch Friedmanites like the ones at Reason, who maintain that free markets and free societies are peanut butter and jelly. In an extra dig at anti-war Friedmanites like the ones at Reason, Klein argues that today's neocons--bogeymen on par with Communists at the magazine--are really just Friedmanites with bombs; and pure Friedmanites are really just neocons who prefer others to drop the bombs for them while they discuss economics. It's a body slam alright, and I was really looking forward to Reason's blistering but reasoned 5,000-word response to Klein's book. I was even going to make some popcorn for the read.

But two months after SxCx posted the question--"So who's reviewing Naomi Klein's searing indictment of that bloodthirsty scoundrel Milton Friedman?"--the answer appears to be: No one.

The only mentions of Klein's book on the Reason site are a couple of easy dismissals by blogger Michael C. Moynihan. The first of these, posted September 19, calls Klein's intensively researched and tightly argued book a "screed," and says that anyone who still believes the old Friedman-Pinochet "chestnut" should read a year-old article by Reason's Brian Doherty on the subject of Friedman's "hardly-knew-the-guy" relationship with Pinochet and his brutal dictatorship.

But Klein has the goods on this old "chestnut." As she shows, Friedman and his Chicago Boys were not all that bothered by Pinochet's bloody rule. Quite the opposite, they recognized that their free market wet dream could never be realized in a functioning democracy and welcomed the opportunities opened up by the Chicago Boys-tutored dictatorships in Latin America's southern cone in the 1970s. In some cases Friedmantes worked with the coup plotters before they even came to power.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Why Would Wolf Blitzer Want Hillary to Win?
Posted by Manila Ryce, The Largest Minority on November 19, 2007 at 12:00 PM.

This post, written by Manila Ryce, originally appeared on The Largest Minority

In honor of the terrific job Wolf Blitzer and CNN did in moderating the most recent "debate" in Las Vegas, I thought I'd dig out this blast from the past.

In a recent episode of Hardball, Ed Schultz was asked why he thought Wolf would want Hillary to be elected president. One reason could be that she's the most pro-war candidate who supports Israel's ongoing occupation, ethnic cleansing, and oppression of the Palestinian people. Of course, "Hardball" is anything but, so you're not allowed to say those sorts of things. As Clinton stated in the last debate, she favors security over freedom, just as the Zionists and Neocons do. Here's one disgusting speech in which she declares her unconditional support for the inhumane practices of the Israeli government.

Blitzer himself is a former editor of AIPACs monthly publication, the "Near East Report". It doesn't look good when a network which claims to be "the most trusted name in news" hires a propagandist within such a powerful pro-Israeli organization to disseminate "objective journalism" to the American people. Hopefully, the following debate can offer some context to the abomination we saw just a few nights ago. Corporations such as Time Warner are pure tyrannies. It is in their best interest to crush democracy by limiting legitimate debate within our society. They too believe as Hillary does, that the importance of their security trumps the freedoms of the many.

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Army Desertion at Highest Rate in Over 25 Years
Posted by Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend on November 19, 2007 at 7:00 AM.

This post, written by Pam Spaulding, originally appeared on Pam's House Blend

There are four ways someone can leave the Army prior to the end of a first-term contract:

* they cannot meet physical fitness requirements (that threshold has been lowered, considering who they are recruiting these days)

* they are found to be "unable to adapt" to life in the military (lord, what on earth qualifies as that -- being exposed to IEDs on a daily basis -- how does anyone adapt to that?)

* they declare they are a homo and DADT is invoked.

* they go AWOL.

According to the Army, more than 18 percent of the soldiers in their first six months of service left under one of the above four provisions. The peak of desertion rates was during Vietnam, but the numbers these days, while Dear Leader's Big Endless Military Adventures go on, are still staggering. (AP):

Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.

While the totals are still far lower than they were during the Vietnam War, when the draft was in effect, they show a steady increase over the past four years and a 42 percent jump since last year.

...The increase comes as the Army continues to bear the brunt of the war demands with many soldiers serving repeated, lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military leaders - including Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey - have acknowledged that the Army has been stretched nearly to the breaking point by the combat. Efforts are under way to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps to lessen the burden and give troops more time off between deployments.

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David Vitter, Republican Strategists and the Prostitute’s Subpoena
Posted by Steven Reynolds, The All Spin Zone on November 19, 2007 at 6:00 AM.

This post, written by Steven Reynolds, originally appeared on The All Spin Zone

The Chicago Tribune has an article where various Republican strategists give David Vitter advice about how to respond to a subpoena. Of course the advice has nothing to do with testifying with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Being truthful has no connection to Republican strategy.

Mmmm! Sounds like the title of a really bad porn movie, huh?

The Chicago Tribune wonders at a very difficult decision Republican Senator (R-LA) David Vitter has in front of him now that he has been subpoenaed by the Deborah Palfrey legal team. The argument is that if he fights the subpoena, he will be showing himself as above the law, and that won't look good. Besides, he might lose the fight and have to testify anyway. If he testifies, as master Republican strategist Charlie Black says, he'll have another choice. Here's the skinny from the Chicago Tribune:

If forced to testify, Vitter should do his best to "demonstrate true contrition," Holt said.

"You can survive any political situation if you conduct yourself with dignity," Holt said. "Preserving your dignity, while extremely difficult in this situation, is still possible."

Charlie Black, a Republican strategist and former Republican National Committee spokesman, said Vitter must decide whether it's worth trying to quash the subpoena.

"I might go ahead and do it rather than having a protracted fight over whether he'll have to do it," Black said.

If Vitter takes the stand, Black said, the key will be to offer as little new information -- and fodder for critics -- as possible.

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Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend Resigns
Posted by Paddy , Brave New Films on November 19, 2007 at 5:12 AM.

This post, written by Paddy, originally appeared on Cliff Schecter's Blog

Just now on air on MSNBC. Looking for more.

Politico-

Homeland security aide leaving White House

Frances Fragos Townsend, President Bush's homeland security adviser, will announce Monday that she's leaving the White House, a senior administration official told Politico.

"It's an important job and she was good at it," the official said. "She will stay until her successor is identified, which is immensely helpful."

Townsend, the assssistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, was one of the president's most valued and trusted advisers, with a phone on her desk connecting her to No. 10 Downing Street, the British prime minister's office.

(snip)

A former mob prosecutor from Manhattan, Townsend was put in charge of the White House's "lessons learned" inquest after the botched response to Hurricane Katrina.

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Man in Airport Tasered to Death by Police
Posted by Manila Ryce, The Largest Minority on November 19, 2007 at 5:06 AM.

This post, written by Manila Ryce, originally appeared on The Largest Minority

Robert Dziekanski was a 40-year-old Polish immigrant who had arrived at Vancouver International Airport and was on his way to live with his mother in the B.C. Interior. He arrived at the airport at 4 pm on Oct 13th but for some unknown reason did not clear customs until after midnight, more than 8 hours later. Dziekanski's actions were then caught on video by a witness at the airport.

Dziekanski appeared agitated, sweating and yelling in Polish while placing office chairs in front of security doors. In another section of the video, he throws a computer to the ground and is talked down by an employee at the airport. It is then that three personnel arrive. Dziekanski then retreats into the lounge where he is later met by four Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers. It is this part of the video which documents Robert Dziekanski's death.

About 25 seconds after police enter the secure area where he is, there is a loud crack that sounds like a Taser shot, followed by Dziekanski screaming and convulsing as he stumbles and falls to the floor. Another loud crack can be heard as an officer appears to fire one more Taser shot into Dziekanski.

As the officers kneel on top of Dziekanski and handcuff him, he continues to scream and convulse on the floor. One officer is heard to say, "Hit him again. Hit him again," and there is another loud cracking sound.

Police have said only two Taser shots were fired, but a witness said she heard up to four Taser shots. A minute and half after the first Taser shot was fired Dziekanski stops moaning and convulsing and becomes still and silent.

Shortly after, the officers appear to be checking his condition and one officer is heard to say, "code red." The video ends shortly after.

Paul Pritchard shot the video with his digital camera, but afterward he surrendered it to police for their investigation on a promise that they would return it within 48 hours. The next day, police told Pritchard they would not be returning the recording as promised.

Carr previously stated investigators kept the video longer than they anticipated in order to protect the integrity of the police investigation while they interviewed witnesses.

Saying he feared a coverup by police, Pritchard then engaged a lawyer to start legal proceedings to reclaim the recording. Police returned the recording to him on Wednesday.

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Scott Ritter debunks Iran myths [VIDEO]
Posted by Evan Derkacz on November 19, 2006 at 10:45 PM.

In a recent Democracy Now! appearance, former weapons inspector Scott Ritter talks about his surprising freedom to roam around Iran, its pro-America sentiments, and a major myth about president Ahmadinejad.

Pass it along to friends and family who believe that war with an original member of the "Axis of Evil" is inevitable...